MOOCS 101: How Do They Work?

10/8/2013 4:00PM

Millions of people around the world are now enrolled in massive open online course, commonly referred to as MOOCs, and that number is growing. But just how much do students learn from them? WSJ's Jason Bellini has the Short Answer.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

I ... in Mumbai Madrid and lead in the other ones these are a few ... thousand people registered for an online course in mythology ... just taught by Professor at a small studio ... at the University of Pennsylvania ... welcome to the wide world of Luke's ... Massive Open Online courses ... is the chance for anyone anywhere with internet connection ... to learn for free from Star professors at prestigious universities ... where your to do a second only to find out new knowledge ... and to spread abroad as quiet as we possibly can ... where the Greeks come from ... the start attracted widespread interest in two thousand eleven ... I ... top Goebel researcher at Stanford computer science professor ... teamed up to offer of free online course on artificial intelligence ... hundred sixty thousand students ... stand for Sebastian who went on to found the gossipy ... one of the chemical companies that started last year began offering large scale moves ... yes he claimed more than one point five million enrolments from over two hundred countries ... the tax of one point three million students ... Corsair a fight ... in the state was having much success as those in traditional class ... concerns the complete course is not so much ... if ever survey found average completion rate of just seven ... but those ... Labasa were what the result includes a sampling of course ... and have ... little to lose by quitting ... in terms of exams force ... Ishaq surfacing was data before drawing conclusions whichever sequester second best little are still in a small classroom or soft supple mines of us on one technology ... but not everyone finds a copy of portable or even available ... nearly forty percent of people registered Encore Sarah for example ... come from developing countries of the students pursues a painting class ... Muslims offer Kodera link between student and professor ... while there are online chat boards for class discussions ... nukes lack the same social dimension offered in college ... Daniel says many new keg parties ... what's on the horizon ... the world of higher ed is watching what happens at Georgia Institute of Technology ... parting with the destiny of the school was offering a master's degree in computer science that will cost it was less than seven thousand dollars ... a share is teaming up with public universities the belt ... or credit courses ... will have an enrollment fee ... how disruptive will nukes Peter colleges and universities ... in this course you will learn about normal reproductive biology and I ... railed for some perspective courses to students complete roots as a college classroom equivalent ... but this is only ... year two of